KIDWCKED
02-27-2010, 10:25 PM
c\pBy Allan Maki, The Globe and Mail Posted Friday, February 26, 2010 9:23 PM ET
WHISTLER - In the early hours of Saturday morning, Brian McKeever typed out a telling tweet: "Olympic dream over. Don't think I've ever been so sad."
McKeever was not listed among Canada's four starters for Sunday's final cross-country ski event, the men's 50-kilometres, and that has touched a lot of nerves here and around the country.
Billed as the first winter athlete to compete at an Olympics and Paralympics, the legally-blind McKeever was informed late Friday evening he would be scratched in favour of Ivan Babikov, Alex Harvey, George Grey and Devon Kershaw, all of whom have raced well in their previous Olympic races.
Cross-country ski team manager Dave Wood called the decision to sit McKeever "very tough" but Saturday insisted it had to be made.
"When Brian qualified for the team (in late January) that just put him on the Olympic team. It didn't qualify him for anything," Wood explained.
"Obviously, Brian is disappointed and we wanted to give him the opportunity but with four boys skiing at such a good level we had to go with them.
"I don't think that's fair to the people who preformed as we asked them to, to park them for non-sport reasons."
Wood was asked if the coaches asked any of the four skiers if they were willing to give up their spot for McKeever, a 50-km specialist, and replied: "Of course they all want to ski. We weren't prepared to put a guilt trip on them."
There were indications McKeever may have been offered a spot in the individual sprint qualification race but turned it down because he's a distance skier, not a sprinter. Wood denied that, saying the sprints were never part of McKeever's agenda.
McKeever, 30, suffers Stargardt's disease and is legally blind. He has just 10 per cent of his vision, all of it peripheral. He was named to the Canadian Olympic team and became an international news story. There was even a credit card TV advertisement, voiced by actor Morgan Freeman, which drew attention to McKeever's fortitude and pending accomplishment at these Olympics.
But all that went out the window when Canada placed four skiers in the top 16 of the 30-km pursuit; it showed the coaches their athletes were clicking, physically and emotionally. Grey was the biggest shocker, coming in eighth, by far his best result of the season.
The coaches said they were obligated to reward the four for peaking at the right time and producing under pressure.
McKeever has yet to speak to the media.
WHISTLER - In the early hours of Saturday morning, Brian McKeever typed out a telling tweet: "Olympic dream over. Don't think I've ever been so sad."
McKeever was not listed among Canada's four starters for Sunday's final cross-country ski event, the men's 50-kilometres, and that has touched a lot of nerves here and around the country.
Billed as the first winter athlete to compete at an Olympics and Paralympics, the legally-blind McKeever was informed late Friday evening he would be scratched in favour of Ivan Babikov, Alex Harvey, George Grey and Devon Kershaw, all of whom have raced well in their previous Olympic races.
Cross-country ski team manager Dave Wood called the decision to sit McKeever "very tough" but Saturday insisted it had to be made.
"When Brian qualified for the team (in late January) that just put him on the Olympic team. It didn't qualify him for anything," Wood explained.
"Obviously, Brian is disappointed and we wanted to give him the opportunity but with four boys skiing at such a good level we had to go with them.
"I don't think that's fair to the people who preformed as we asked them to, to park them for non-sport reasons."
Wood was asked if the coaches asked any of the four skiers if they were willing to give up their spot for McKeever, a 50-km specialist, and replied: "Of course they all want to ski. We weren't prepared to put a guilt trip on them."
There were indications McKeever may have been offered a spot in the individual sprint qualification race but turned it down because he's a distance skier, not a sprinter. Wood denied that, saying the sprints were never part of McKeever's agenda.
McKeever, 30, suffers Stargardt's disease and is legally blind. He has just 10 per cent of his vision, all of it peripheral. He was named to the Canadian Olympic team and became an international news story. There was even a credit card TV advertisement, voiced by actor Morgan Freeman, which drew attention to McKeever's fortitude and pending accomplishment at these Olympics.
But all that went out the window when Canada placed four skiers in the top 16 of the 30-km pursuit; it showed the coaches their athletes were clicking, physically and emotionally. Grey was the biggest shocker, coming in eighth, by far his best result of the season.
The coaches said they were obligated to reward the four for peaking at the right time and producing under pressure.
McKeever has yet to speak to the media.